Phonics Book Bag Readers: The Next Best Thing (Set 8) by Rachel Russ (author) (UK edition)

Phase 4

Scholastic Set: 08

Title: The Next Best Thing

Focus: Adjacent consonants with long vowel sounds (example words: sleep park explains Casper)

Tricky words: the he going to all of says I’m we go so she by puts when come they

Book Band: Blue

This title is part of a set of phonically decodable reading books perfect for very early readers. These expertly levelled stories are engaging and follow one of the most commonly used validated SSPs in primary schools.

The series includes a wide selection of diverse and inclusive stories, accompanied by bright, contemporary and humorous illustrations that will engage and inspire young readers with a ‘find the character’ feature on each spread.

The artwork is detailed so as not to provide picture cues and prompting. Each book also contains parent’s notes and a ‘retell the story’ task to support children’s oracy, vocabulary and comprehension skills. Thirteen sets of books covering groups of sounds to allow for progression.

Scholastic considers these books suitable for children learning using the Wandle Learning Trust’s Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised phonics programme. Scholastic is not part of Wandle Learning Trust, nor are our products approved for use with the Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised phonics programme by the Wandle Learning Trust.

The stories in this set focus on the sounds found in Scholastic Set 08 and revise the sounds found in previous sets. There are thirteen sets in total, covering:

Phase 2 Set 1: s a t p i n m d

Phase 2 Set 2: g o c k ck e u r h b f l

Phase 2 Set 3: ff ll ss j v w x y z zz

Phase 2 Set 4: qu ch sh th ng nk

Phase 3 Set 5: ai ee igh oa oo

Phase 3 Set 6: ar or ur ow oi ear air er

Phase 4 Set 7: Adjacent consonants with short vowels

Phase 4 Set 8: Adjacent consonants with Phase 3 long vowels

Phase 5 Set 9: ay (play), ou (cloud), oy (boy), ea (each), ir (bird), ie (pie), ue (blue), u (unicorn)

Phase 5 Set 10: o (go), i (tiger), a (paper), e (he), a-e (snake), i-e (time), o-e (home), u-e (cute), e-e (these), ew (new), ie (shield), aw (claw)

Phase 5 Set 11: y (funny), ea (head), wh (wheel), oe (toe), ou (shoulder), y (fly), ow (snow), g (giant), ph (phone), le (apple), al (metal), c (ice), ve (give), o-e (some), o (mother), ou (young), se (cheese), se (mouse), ce (fence), ey (donkey), ui (fruit), ou (soup)

Phase 5 Set 12: or (word), u (full), oul (could), are (share), ear (bear), ere (there), au (author), aur (dinosaur), oor (floor), al (walk), tch (match), ture (adventure), al (half), a (father), a (water), a (want), ear (learn), wr (wrist), st (whistle), sc (science), ch (school), ch (chef), ze (freeze), schwa at the end of words (actor)

Phase 5 Set 13: eigh (eight), aigh (straight), ey (grey), ea (break), gn (gnaw), kn (knee), mb (thumb), ere (here), eer (deer), su (treasure), si (vision), dge (bridge), ge (large), y (crystal), ti (potion), ssi (mission), si (mansion), ci (delicious), augh (daughter), our (pour), oar (oar), ore (more)

Have you got them all?